The story so far:
The ethics complaint filed against Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee is based largely on stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that detailed the chairman’s off-the-books hiring of attorney Dan McRae to negotiate a preliminary agreement with the Braves. That agreement sealed the team’s move out of downtown Atlanta. The newspaper first questioned Lee about McRae’s role in the negotiations after reviewing dozens of drafts of the agreement, called a Memorandum of Understanding, that were passed back and forth between McRae and Braves’ General Counsel Greg Heller. The newspaper also found that McRae’s firm, Seyfarth Shaw, was written into a late version of the agreement as the county’s bond and project counsel — legal work worth about $4 million. Lee denied promising McRae the work. Two months later, the AJC obtained an email written on a Cobb Chamber account that confirmed McRae’s hiring as the county’s bond and project counsel.
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The Cobb County Board of Ethics wants to hear more.
With a 5-1 vote Tuesday night, the board decided to move forward with a full, trial-like hearing on an ethics complaint against Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee.
The date of that hearing will be set later.
Tom Cheek, a West Cobb software salesman, filed the complaint against Lee in August alleging that he improperly hired an attorney to negotiate a preliminary agreement with the Atlanta Braves, was unresponsive to a request for emails filed under the Georgia Open Records Act, and used a private email account to skirt the open records law.
Cheek’s complaint was based largely on stories published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution related to Lee’s off-the-books hiring of attorney Dan McRae, who was the county’s primary negotiator in a preliminary agreement that secured the team’s move to Cobb County — and the $400 million public investment in a new stadium.
Cheek wasn’t celebrating after the vote.
“No one wins with an ethics complaint,” Cheek said. “There is no good outcome. My hope is we wouldn’t have to come to this point.”
Asked by the ethics board what he wants if Lee is found guilty of a violation, Cheek said: “I’m asking the board to reprimand him for his actions.”
Lee, who did not attend the hearing, was defiant in a statement issued through a private spokeswoman Tuesday night: “It goes to show if someone is willing to twist the truth enough, the board has no other option but to continue forward with due diligence and gather further evidence, or lack thereof.
“Tonight’s decision simply means the board wants to gather more information before rendering a decision. There is absolutely no finding of guilt and I am happy to work with the board to answer additional questions.”
During the hearing, Lee’s attorney, David Cole, called that allegation that the chairman hired McRae to negotiate with the Braves “silly,” and disputed Cheek’s assertion that only the county attorney can hire outside legal counsel.
Cole argued with members of the ethics board, who peppered him with questions. At one point, he told board member Darrell Sutton that there is no evidence showing Lee improperly hired McRae.
“With all due respect, Mr. Cole, we’ll determine that,” Sutton shot back.
Cole reminded another member, Deborah King, that the board had to have “substantial evidence from a credible source” that an ethics violation had occurred. King had made a comment earlier in the hearing that she thought the evidence presented by both sides was compelling.
“If it’s undecided, then the decision must be to dismiss,” Cole told King. “Undecided, or 50-50, does not meet the burden of setting a hearing.”
“The more I hear, the clearer I become,” King said in response.
The AJC reported in August that McRae, who is a partner in Seyfarth Shaw, spent more than six weeks negotiating the so-called Memorandum of Understanding on the county’s behalf with the Braves’ general counsel, without billing the county for his time. One of the last versions of the preliminary agreement inserted Seyfarth Shaw as the county’s project and bond counsel for the Braves project — legal work that could pay up to $4 million.
Lee has said he didn’t know about or consent to McRae inserting Seyfarth Shaw into the MOU. When asked by the AJC why McRae would do that, Lee responded in an August interview: “I don’t know. You’d have to chat with him.”
Two months later, the AJC obtained an email, sent from a Cobb Chamber account, that confirmed McRae’s hiring for the Braves project.
“I am passing on to you the following provided by Chairman Tim Lee on behalf of Cobb County and its entities,” says the email, which was sent from a Cobb Chamber vice president’s account, effectively keeping the message out of the county system, which is subject to the Georgia Open Records Act.
“The county confirms the attorney-client relationship between it and Seyfarth Shaw as its project counsel/bond counsel for” the Braves stadium project, the email says.
That email was important evidence during the hearing.
Cheek told the board that he made a records request for emails to and from Lee’s private account that should have produced that document in late August. He was told there were emails in the account, but that they were attorney-client privilege. The AJC made a similar request a few days after Cheek’s request and received the email.
Cheek said he only received copies of emails produced for the AJC, and that his open records request to Lee was never granted.
Lee maintains that the email simply confirmed McRae was hired for the “pre-public” portion of negotiations. He says that he never hired McRae because the attorney was never paid for his work.
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